Today was quite an adventure. With Kevin, the vineyard manager, having to stay at college, Alex and I were tasked to drive the tractor and post-pounder the 8 miles to Rock Lodge and get on with it. It was Alex’s turn to drive the beast, so after mounting the pounder I shot off in my car to wait for her. Easy.

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Our first day post pounding without experienced instruction went ….. OK. No, they weren’t the straightest posts I’ve ever seen, and some were a little shorter than others, and we only managed 14 compared to the massive 60 with Kevin’s help earlier in the week.

However, we did lay a fair few others out too. Also we were also hampered by the breaking of the catch which holds the post-pounder’s weight to the plate under it, which ensures the banging does not split the posts. This we tried to remedy with a botched wire catch, but it was a constant fiddle.

Alex barricades herself in the blizzard-struck vineyard as I drive off in the Massey, laughing. Not really.

The real reason for our lack of results however, was the driving snow which finished us off somewhere around 2pm. We initially worked stoically through it, but when we started to wonder about our safety and found it hard to see the line of the vines we ran for it, with Alex’s tractor nearly beating me back to college, so slow was it for cars on the road.

All in all an excellent week, where I learned a huge amount. Many thanks to Kevin for the experience (sadly expenses only paid) and for the broad range of tasks and the depth of responsibility which put upon us. It was great to work with Alex too since she’s very sound, and I hope we can work together in future too.

After we decide to make a bolt for home the blizzard eases up leaving a beautiful sight